Book Review - Just My Type (Simon Garfield)



Life changing stuff.

For a graphic designer and a typeface-manic, I couldn't have picked a better book. This book changed my attitude towards any font that is non-Helvetica.

In the beginning there was only Helvetica, for me. Now, thanks to this book there is Frutiger, there is Underground, there is Gill Sans, there is Interstate. Now I can walk the street and look at every letter around me and feel like I am seeing stars (as opposed to looking for only Helvetica and Futura before reading this book).

The only qualm I would have with this book is that the writer's (or designer's) choice of fonts for the cover is a bit too flambuoyant. I almost didn't pick the book up seeing it on the rack. If the cover had the titles on simple Gill Sans or Futura or even Frutiger (or, need I mention, in Helvetica), it would have been perfect.

Also, the writer sounds a bit pretentious sometimes. But then, excuse the fellow, he is only a writer of books and not a type designer or even a graphic designer. I have to applaud him for even writing such a book.

I felt sad when I finished the book. I wished there was more.. Where do I go from there?

Well, wikipedia, here I come.